The greatest moment of self-discovery is when you come to terms on how unique you are. That uniqueness makes you amazing – that you have got great talents and special gifts. If you spend more time examining how far you have gone, over just focusing on others (friends, colleagues, etc), and then piece together what took you to those heights, improving on the wins, the future will bring better paths.

Awareness and observation are antennas into the minds of customers, sharper than any MBA. Some entrepreneurs have used both to make out of chewing stick an organic toothbrush.

To be a successful businessperson, you do not need to be as mathematical as Chike Obi or grammatical as Wole Soyinka. All you need is awareness and observation on market frictions, finding solutions to them, and rapping up in a matching story. If you can get those three in sync, you will experience glory.

Like I tell startups in our portfolio – “competition will not destroy you in Nigeria, but failure to execute will. Do not spend too much effort on what competitors are doing or will do, I want to see what you are doing and will do”. As the African proverb would say it takes killing just one tiger to be called the “the killer of tigers”, you have wins already, and I can assure you that you are already a winner.

Keep wins going! Have a great weekend.

Does it mean that MTN Nigeria which was listed in the Nigerian Stock Exchange at close to $6 billion is bigger than Airtel Africa? Briefcase Africa reports that “Airtel Africa wants to sell 25% of its stock to new investors, raising almost £1 billion in the process, mostly to pay down debt”, implying the company is worth around $5 billion. Today, the market cap of MTN Nigeria is N2.77 trillion (about $9 billion if you use CBN exchange rate or $7.7 billion with black market rate). For Airtel Africa to be asking for $5 billion when MTN Nigeria is worth $9 billion seems strange.

Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of Indian telecoms group Bharti Airtel Ltd. isreportedly planning a listingon the London Stock Exchange. It plans to sell 25% of its stock to new investors in a bid to raise US$1 billion in the process, mostly to pay down debt. Cash injection from existing investors has already helped to reduce Airtel Africa’s net debt to $4 billion in March, compared to $7.7 billion in the previous year. JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi, Barclays, and Goldman Sachs are among nine banks AIrrtel has selected to assist with the listing which may happen as soon as next month. The company, operating in 14 African countries, also plans to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (TC Daily)

MTN Nigeria IPO Market Cap: My June 2018 Model Was Close – $5.57B vs. $5.8B

It is still looking hard for Uber – the very reason I believe that Uber and Lyft will come together very soon. Yes, everyone will see that these companies are not making money and would be allowed to at least survive through merger.  Despite raising last private fund at close to $100 billion, the public market value remains less than $70 billion.

Uber lost $1 billion last quarter. It was the first earnings report for the ride-hailing giant as a public company, and was in line with estimates detailed in IPO documents. Sales and marketing costs jumped while revenue growth was the slowest in years. The results come amid a bumpy few months for Uber, as what was supposed to be a triumphant public listing instead stumbled.

It’s Friday. At the end of work today, take 15 minutes to review how the week went. Did you do more that was expected from you? If not, note immediately how you can mitigate the lapses. Until you can do more on current responsibilities, you will not qualify yourself for that next promotion. No matter what, feel great, reward your mind with optimism as you leave office – and make sure you show admiration for that company. Until you like where you work, you will struggle to do the best work therein.

If you do not like your teacher, you will likely not do well in that class.

If you do not like your school, you will likely struggle in your program.

If you do not like your nation, you will likely see only obstacles.

The greatest challenge is the Liberation of the mind. Just as the crickets sing, and the nightingales deliver the melodies, your mind can condition your awareness and observation.

Win the victory of your mind

MTN Group wants to stay focused on the broad telecom business and out of the distractions of investments. The South Africa’s telecom giant plans to sell interest in Amadeus to HarbourVest for $83 million, Reuters reports. It has already gotten an exit path on Jumia when the company got listed in the NYSE.

 South African telecoms company MTN said on Tuesday it would sell its interest in investment fund Amadeus to private equity firm HarbourVest for around 1.2 billion rand ($83 million).

MTN said the sale, which also includes its associated holding in online travel booking website TravelStart, was part of a plan to realise 15 billion rand worth of capital over the next three years, simplify its portfolio and reduce risk.